Peter Fernandez Head Coach TNCA Academy

Staying committed to Coaching has earned the former TN batsman the coveted role of the Head Coach of the TNCA Academy

Decades in the Coaching Former Ranji Cricketer and captain of SVPB Udumalpet Peter Fernandez has been appointed as the Head Coach of the TNCA Academy.  This is a significant turnaround for him after financial challenges he had faced a couple of years ago. His decades long experience in coaching has secured him this role, one that is expected to be a lucrative contract for Peter. It may be recalled that the then treasurer of the ICA and TN opener from the 1970s V Krishnaswamy (Kichcha V) had organised a onetime financial support in 2020 soon after the Pandemic hit the country in March 2020. Soon after this section put out a story on Peter's financial challenge, leading Coimbatore based lawyer and University cricketer from the 1970s PR Ramakrishnan (PR Ramki) brought together cricketers from Coimbatore to support Peter financially (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/05/peter-fernandez-ica-financial-assistance.html) and helped him with Rs. 1.75 Lakhs.

The shutting down of the SPIN foundation in 2016 followed by the challenges relating to the Pandemic hit him hard but Peter Fernandez’s decades of commitment to coaching has finally paid rich dividends with the TNCA appointing him as the head coach of the academy. Former TN opener CS Suresh Kumar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/07/cs-suresh-kumar-india-schools-tn-opener.html) seemed to be in the reckoning but Peter Fernandez’s experience in coaching got him through to this coveted role. Suresh Kumar had told this writer recently that he was looking to get into a coaching role with the TNCA after he had disengaged with the Pondicherry Cricket Association. He had been the coach of Pondicherry for a brief period.

Remained committed to Coaching

Peter, a BCCI Level 3 coach, was the batting coach of the academy last year. The feedback about him from the TNCA has been good. 

For well over a decade, Peter had been the head coach of the MAC Spin Foundation in Kotturpuram. He had worked closely with Robin Singh for many years. During that phase, he came in close contact with Terry Jenner, Ashley Mallet, EAS Prasanna and Maninder Singh. He also attended a coaching session on the art of leg spin conducted by Peter Philpotts at the CCI. 

In the 1990s, Peter Fernandez had attended a 10 day camp conducted by Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson at the MRF Pace Foundation. Almost 35 years ago, he had coached at the Brijesh Patel Coaching Academy in Bombay and Bangalore. It may be recalled that Brijesh and Peter played together for SVPB Udumalpet for a few years in the 1980s. Peter has also coached in an academy in Hong Kong.

Peter learned a lot on fast bowling from Pace Foundation architect TA Sekar who provided great insights on video analysis and the nuances of fast bowling.

Peter was one of the first to be roped in by SVPB (Sri Venkateswara Paper Boards) Udumalpet, whose founder Soundararajan was just beginning to promote cricket in a big way in the districts and was keen to build a strong team (SVPB Soundar). He joined SVPB in 1976 and stayed there for almost 25 years. He played for the Universities and was part of the team that won the Rohinton Baria Trophy under Bharath Reddy in the 1970s. He played only a couple of Ranji matches for TN. In the 1990s, Peter was also a Ranji selector for three years under the chairmanship of VV Kumar. He has also been an U17 and U22 selector. 

This section had last month featured a story on former TN all-rounder S Mahesh’s likely appointment as the fast bowling coach (S Mahesh TNCA Academy). PC Prakash who was the batting coach last year is set to continue in the same role.  Peter is expected to be working closely with Mahesh and Prakash (PCP)as well as with the state coach M Venkatramana (Venkatramana TN Coach).

After his playing days, Peter Fernandez has remained committed to coaching and has been on the ground with the students for well over two decades. Three of the women’s players  currently in the Indian team have been coached by Peter. He was also the coach of Varun Chakravarthy (Peter Varun) in his early cricketing days. This appointment of him as the Head Coach is a reward for his perseverance. 

This section wishes him the Best.

Story below written on Thursday 

https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/10/tnca-academy-head-coach-twist-in-tale.html?m=1